Adults in the UK are under-sleeping by an hour every night

Although people recognise the importance of sleep, they still fail to make enough time for it each night

British adults struggle to balance busy lifestyles with sleep (sdominick/iStock)

Feeling tired? Well, you're not alone.

It turns out Britons are under-sleeping by an hour every night, the equivalent of a whole night’s sleep over the course of a week.

A poll of 2,000 adults found the average time we spend asleep is 6.8 hours, rather than the optimum 7.7 hours people said they think they need.

According to the Royal Society for Public Health, the lack of shut-eye has resulted in a third of people feeling depressed and more than half getting stressed as a result.

The society says the health risks attached to not getting enough sleep include high blood pressure, coronary heart disease and incident stroke.

Shirley Cramer CBE, Chief Executive of RSPH, said: “We do need to wake up to the benefits of sleep - there is a wealth of evidence that lack of sleep is damaging the public’s health.

“Poor sleep and sleep disorders impact on our ability to lead a healthy lifestyle and are associated with a range of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart attack and depression.”

The report found people believed getting enough sleep was the second most important activity for optimising their health and wellbeing – behind not smoking and ahead of getting their five a day, exercising and not drinking too much alcohol - but they still struggle to schedule in time to get enough rest.

It said the reasons people are spending less and less time in bed included longer commutes, shift work, parenting and late nights out.

A spokesperson from RSPS told the Independent: “Unfortunately, it seems like many of us have simply accepted that with our modern, hectic lifestyles, getting enough sleep just isn’t going to happen, and we make do.

“People know this will make them feel bad and less productive – but they are perhaps unaware of just how serious the health consequences can be, which is why we need a coherent strategy to tackle our national sleep deficit.”

To combat the problem, the society is calling for the introduction of a national sleep guidance time – called a ‘slumber number’ – to better inform people of the importance of sleep.

“The ‘slumber number’ is a guideline range of hours people should be aiming to get each night – 7-9 hours for most adults.

“Everyone is slightly different, but the overwhelming majority of people should be falling within this range,” the spokesperson said.

As for what we can do to achieve this, they said: “People can give themselves a better chance of a good night’s sleep by making small changes like taking screens out of the bedroom environment before light’s out.

“Good sleep can stem from healthy behaviours in other aspects of our life – those who eat healthily and get plenty of physical activity often sleep better. And in turn, getting better sleep makes people more likely to stick to those healthy behaviours.”